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Abacus
Comes from the Greek word abax, which means "sand tray." Originally, columns of pebbles were laid out on the sand for purposes of counting. See calculate and exchequer.
Allegory
From Greek allos meaning "other" and agora meaning gathering place (especially the marketplace). In times past, it was common to do one's chatting at the marketplace. Some of the topics discussed were clandestine in nature and when people spoke about them, for fear of being punished, they would speak indirectly. That is to say, they would speak about one thing in such a way as to intimate the actual information to the listener. Thus, the persons discussing clandestine matters were said to be speaking of "other things" in the marketplace. Eventually the words joined and became associated with the act of speaking about one thing while meaning another.
Apple (Eng.)/ Pomme (Fr.) / Manzana (Sp.)
These words, which all mean the same thing, should be explained one at a time, as they come from different sources. In regard to apple, all European languages other than the Romance languages, ie., the great majority of Indo-European languages, including the Celtic tongues, use a word with a root ap, ab, af or av for apples and apple trees: aballo (Celtic), apple(Eng.), Apfel (Germ.), aeppel (Old Eng.), abhal (Irish Gaelic), epli (Icelandic), afal (Welsh), jabloko (Russian), and jablko (Polish). In regard to pomme, this French term comes from the Latin pomum, which originally referred to all fruit. Before Christianity was adopted as the official religion of the Roman Empire some time in the 4th. Century, the Latin word malum (melon in Greek) meant "apple." After the adoption of Christianity, however, and due to the important symbolism of the apple in the bible (ie, the Garden of Eden), the general term pomum, "fruit," was used to describe the apple as "the fruit of fruits." In regard to manzana, this Spanish term comes from the Iberian pronunciation of matiana, a Gallo-Roman translation of the Latin word matianum, which was a scented, golden apple first raised by and named after Matius, a friend of Caesar's who was also a cookbook author ["Apple" Footnote: The French village of Avallon (in the Yonne area), where there are a lot of apple trees, received its name from the legend of the sacred island of Avalon or Abalon, meaning "Apple Orchard"--incidentally, the "-on" suffix is an "augmentative" and explains the origin of the name of the Pacific shellfish "Abalone"--that is, "big apple."].
Apricot
This term, which comes from the French abricot--and was aubercot until the Fifteenth Century--does not have one simple etymology, but rather a combination of several, involving a considerable juxtaposition of ideas. On the one hand, we have Portuguese albricoque, Spanish albaricoque and Italian albicocca, which all stem from the Arabic al barqouq or al birquq, for the Iberian Peninsula owed much to the Arab gardeners of Southern Spain (Andalusia). The Arabic word means "early-ripe," and itself derives from the Latin praecox or praecoquum malum (in Greek, praecoxon), meaning "early-ripener" and "early-ripening 'apple,'" respectively (see the etymology of "apple"). This was the name given by the Roman legionaries when they first brought the fruit back to Rome, as they were returning from the Near East in the first century. Being easy to eat, it also was called aperitum, "fruit which opens easily," and there is an association with Greek abros, "delicate," for it does not travel well and ripens very quickly. The idea that there was a connection with Latin apricus, "ripe," may have given rise to the "p" in English "apricot," which combines with the French -cot ending. Incidentally, the fruit is Aprikose to the Germans and abrikos to the Russians, but all these roads lead to Rome, from where the term--and the fruit--first spread throughout Europe.
Addict
Slaves given to Roman soldiers to reward them for performance in battle were known as addicts. Eventually, a person who was a slave to anything became known as an addict.
Alarm
From the Italian, "All'arme" -- "To arms!"
Alcohol
This word comes from the Arabic al-kuhl, which originally meant a very fine powder of antimony used as eye makeup. It conveyed the idea of something very fine and subtle, and the Arab alchemists therefore gave the name of al-kuhl to any impalpable powder obtained by sublimation (the direct transformation of a solid into vapor, or the reverse process), and thus to all compounds obtained through the distillation process.
Algebra
This term, which means "the science of equations" in English--and which conjures up fear in the hearts of most fifth and sixth graders--comes from the title of one of al-Khowarizmi's (see "algorithm") treatises, "Hisab AL-JAHR w'almuqaBAlah" [emphasis added], which means, "Science of Transposition and Cancellation.
Algorithm
This term, which means "rules for computing" in English, comes from al-Khowarizmi (Try saying it fast), an Arab mathematician living around A.D. 825 who completed the earliest known work in arithmetic using Arabic numerals. He was the first to establish rules for adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing with the new Arabic numerals.
Appendix
In Latin it means "the part that hangs." A human appendix hangs at the end of the large intestine; appendices come at the end of books.
Assassin
From the old Arabic word "hashshshin," which meant, "someone who is addicted to hash," that is, marijuana. Originally refered to a group of warriors who would smoke up before battle.
Aaron White adds: You may want to explore the fact that the hashshshins were somewhat of a voodoo-ized grand conspiracy scapegoat cult (the very fact of their existence is impossible to confirm). They supposedly were a secret society (a la the FreeMasons) which was influential in every middle eastern court from Persia to Bangladesh. They were supposedly a brotherhood of assasins, devoted to their caballa and its secrecy, protected by an unlimited number of fanatical followers and unlimited material wealth. Assassination was their favorite method of instituting their power (see the Zoroastrian lore of the eunich priest Arachmenes and his assistance to Darius and Xerxes in their rise to/fall from power). Rumor has it that only the hashshshins were able to survive the hordes of mongol invaders that massacred all people, governments, instituions, etc. in its path, and this only because they were able to infiltrate the asian army's ranks as it surged east and threaten the lives of many important officers and virtually every general (no small feat for an organization that does not exist from several subjugated countries). Usually their threat of death to anyone who opposed them, no matter how powerful, was enough to ensure anyone's complicity with their plans, especially when considering their influence and thus the impunity with which they could act. Also cross-reference that Persian was a mystical, legendary form of marijuana/hashish, rumored to be of unparalleled quality. It is so powerful as to become hallucinogenic and surreal and is said to be on of the ways to attain full-blown buddha-like enlightenment. Even Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead had a worhipful reverence/fear for Persian. This substance was used by the hashshshins in their intiation rites as a narcotic to overwhelm and produce complacency in their recruits. Also, having an army of fanatics was even better if they were all addicted to a potent intoxicant of which you are the only source.
Paul Graham adds: The assassins were a sect of warriors who controlled a number of fortified towns in Persia for about 200 years. On 19 Nov 1256 their leader, Rukn ad-Din, negotiated a surrender with the besieging Mongols. (He was killed soon after.) I know of no evidence that the Assassins infiltrated the Mongol armies and intimidated the commanders. In fact it is hard to see how it would work to threaten a commander of an army in the field. The Mongols did not stay that much longer in Persia anyway.
Asthma
From the Latin, "asthma," meaning both "asthma" and "oppression." The Latin was derived from the Greek meaning the same.
Avocado
From "awa guatl," a South American Indigenous word for testicle. The Spanish took this term and used to to refer to what we now call the avocado.
Bagel
Bagel comes from the German word "beugel," which means
"stirrup."
Apparently, the bagel originated in Vienna, Austria just after the lifting
of the Turkish siege of that city in 1683, an occurrence made possible by
the last minute arrival of Count Sobiesky and his Polish legions. For
dispirited Viennese, the image of Count Sobiesky gallantly storming in
over the mountains to the North on horseback made such an impression on
them that one baker (not the same baker who created the croissant--see
"croissant") decided to commemorate the event by baking a chewy bread-like
roll in the form of one of the Count's stirrups.
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